Donald Trump, the President of the United States, said in his campaign speech in Iowa that the reason the war with the Islamic Republic has not ended is his effort to prevent more people from being killed. He added: “The only reason our work with Iran is not finished yet is that I want to be merciful. I want to save the lives of all those people, if I can.” Trump then warned: “But at some point, we will have to deal them a heavy blow.”

Referring to the “Midnight Hammer” and “Righteous Fury” operations, Trump claimed that the United States has destroyed the Islamic Republic’s nuclear enrichment capability and defeated the Iranian government militarily and financially. He also again defended the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA and called the nuclear deal from the era of Barack Obama a “pathway for Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”